Orcs love Plucker

Just a quick post for today – The Orcs of both Orgrimmar and Mag’har love Plucker. Last night, in a fevered burst of farming, Plucker collected the last 30 Orge Warbeads she needed to appease the Mag’har. Having near-completed genocide, the Orcs were more than willing to open their coffers and allow Plucker the honour of buying their tabard and a Cobolt War Talbuk. Pictures to follow.

Now to get Engineering and Cooking to 375 *sigh*.

WoW News

Apologies for not posting last week – work has been full on (and will continue to be so until after this weekend). Time for a MMO progress report.

Plucker finally got off her arse and levelled up First Aid. Something screwy must be happening with Auctioneer and the Auction House for Aman’Thul, because its reporting that a stack of Heavy Netherweave Bandages should go for around 1000g. Which can’t be right? Plucker is about 8k away from dinging Exalted with Mag’har. Last week I discovered that the Mag’har love Ogre Warbeads (even more than the Consortium!). In many 30mins I can do a lap of  Warmaul Hill and get about 20 Warbeads plus a stack of kill reputation, so I expect maybe a week and Plucker will have that 8k. She’s also been working on knocking off some of her non-group quests for cash – which has resulted in gaining more and more Instance quests. I got into a great PuG last weekend to do a set of group quests that resulted in Plucker being crowned Queen of the Ogres (for about 5 seconds, when someone else turned in the quest). I took a screenshot, which I’ll upload at some stage.

Tanarel has had to halt her race to 58. I want to keep her in step with two friends that I’ve been levelling with. They’re 53/54 at the moment, so I’ll let Tan get some rest and maybe try to shop my way to 300 Leatherworking.

I went back to Huchin on the weekend. Poor Shaman hadn’t been getting any love of late – swinging a 2-handed Mace is so SLOW! I’m going to persevere until 40, when he gets access to Dual Wield, then reevaluate how things are moving, and what to do after that.

Laziest Peon #4 – Ramstein’s Lightning Bolts

Welcome back to the Laziest Peon – a series of articles where I compare a common or uncommon WoW TCG card to its WoW MMO equivalent.

This week I’m going to look at one of my favourite bits of kit – Ramstein’s Lightning Bolts. Initially, I was going to present Spell Reflection, but I realised partway through that that would have made four “s” articles in a row. Its funny how the mind works. Onto the gear!

Ramstein’s is a 3-cost trinket from the Through the Dark Portal expansion. Its a generic trinket that any class can use, and deals 1 point of nature damage to everything – well almost everything. It cannot hurt totems (totems can only be targetted as though an ally – they arent actually an ally). Its a very equitable, symmetric card – burn for all!

Its an impressive card, for 2-resources you can unleash the fury of nature (destroying the card in the process). Read the fine print though – it also deals damage to your side of the table. In some cases, that can hurt you more than your opponent – so you have to be careful when you use it. One place that Ramstein’s is a perfect match is against Onyxia. The lovable Dragon usually takes out your allies for you, so you wont really have much to accidentally fry on the friendly side. Wait though – didnt Onyxia just tap into The Whelp Pits, or summon the Brood of Onyxia? Usually that’s a very bad thing for the raiding Heroes – but if its turn 5 or later (which Stage 2 usually is) and you have this trinket, then YAY! Nighty-night Whelps! And there isnt a thing Onyxia can do!

MUAHAHAHAHAHA!

How come? Its equipment – Onyxia can counter an ability (Meaningless Exertion) but she cannot counter equipment coming into play. About the only thing she can do is hope you’re all tapped and Burninate. And like you’d be that silly. And even if she did somehow try to remove it, its instant speed! You can just blow it up in response.

I think the bolts have some use outside of Onyxia’s Lair though. Its not a bad card whenever you want to wipe away some weenies. It doesnt target, so it gets around the usually rush cards of Apprentice Teep and Apprentice Merry, even “Chipper” Ironbane gets the boot from the bolt. Trolls love this card – it basically reads “Pay 2, destroy -> Call all Trolls big sissies” – giving many +1 ATK (Ash’ergi, Blood Guard Mal’wani, etc) and revving the guts out of Warcaller Zin’bawa. Warriors love it too – going on a Killing Spree that wipes your opponent’s board (and yours if you are not careful). The Alliance can even extend the reach of the bolts to nab Latro Abiectus and Jeleane Nightbreeze – using Barnathrum, Lord of Pain.

There is a lot this little card can do in the right deck but how does it compare to the MMO trinket of the same name? The bolts drop from Ramstein the Gorger, and undead Abomination (think Plagueborn Meatwall, or Stitches) in the dungeon-city of Stratholme in the Eastern Plaguelands. Since patch 2.3 the text has been “Unique-Equipped. Use: Harness the power of lightning to strike down all enemies around you for 200 Nature damage. (5 Min Cooldown)” Prior to 2.3, it wasnt unique and didnt have a cooldown.

Mass damage? Check. Nature damage? Check. Destroyed in process? Nope. A card like Ramstein’s has to be destroyed from a game balance point of view. If it was useable each turn, that’s 2-points to everything for 2-resources, for ever! You’d only need 4 turns (2 for you, 2 for your opponent) for most allies to be wiped from the board, and it would make many abilities irrelevant (Holy Nova, Consecration). I think the version we see in Through the Dark Portal preceded patch 2.3, which is why its non-unique. Not that that really matters a lot, since its destroyed in the process. It does beg to ask the questions, are there any unique equipment in the TCG (the answer is no, but there are plenty of unique allies), and will be see any unique equipment in coming sets? Its hard to guess, but I dont think so. Unique is usually for especially nasty equipment, which in the WoW TCG is likely to result in epic and high cost – effectively making it unique to begin with.

Ok – so I waffled on a bit there, but you can see a neat example of translating a MMO trinket into a TCG card. Its a simple transisiton (when compared to say Shiv – from last time), but a powerful card in the right hands. Ramstein’s Lightning Bolts is one of those cards kooky deck builders love, but doesnt see a lot of competitive play.

I hope though, that you consider playing a couple in your raid decks, if you dont already.

Those Magnificent Blood Elves …

… in their Flying Machines. They go up-dilly-up-up, they come down-dilly-down-down. Up. Down. Flying around, those magnificent Blood Elves in their Flying Machines!

(screen shot taken from WoWHead.com)

With a spot of luck (I found a Taurean Warrior with engineering), Plucker made her Flying Machine last night! These are the things that I took Engineering for – the propeller extends as you gain altitude, and the motors rotate for vertical-take-off-and-landing. It even blows smoke out the back! Sort of makes me want to get the Swift version – but that’s like 5000g just for the Flying Skill, so I think not!

In other news Plucker also got to Honoured with The Consortium. Do I farm Ogres to get to Revered? Lets try the math. I need 21000 to go from Revered to Exalted with Mag’har – so that’s 2100 Ogres to kill. I’ve been getting an approximately 25% drop rate on Ogre Necklaces – so that’s about 525 Necklaces – lets make it 530. Every 10 necklaces earns me 250 Rep with the Consortium – so that’s about 13250 rep in total. And wow – I “only” need 12000 rep to get to Revered.

Yeah, this game doesnt suck your time at all.

MMO Update

With Xmas over, I thought I’d provide an update to where I am sitting with regards to my characters within the WoW MMO.

Plucker has reached 375 Mining and 350 Engineering. At the moment she’s splitting her time between gettings the materials for the Flying Machine (as well as the Surestrike Goggles V2.0), earning reputation (Revered with Mag’har as of last night), and learning new pet abilities. I’m just 4xElemental Seaforium Charges (get it? Seaforium? C4?) away from the Flying Machine, though still an Instance boss away from the goggles (Primal Nethers seem to only drop from bosses). If I want to learn how to make the Seaforium Charges, Plucker needs to be Revered with the Consortium which is going to take a long, long time.

Huchin has reached level 23 and there he stopped – I rediscovered the love of Tanarel and Frost magic. Tan has easily moved up to level 54, and is 5 points away from 300 Tailoring. She’s 265 with Leatherworking, but without a source of leather that’s going to take me a while. So within a month Tan should be in Outland. I think running quests and instances with others is responsible for the renewed interest in Tan – she usually marks the targets and keeps up polymorph and supplying ranges DPS inbetween those times. The feeling of beating an instance is the biggest drawcard. The 3 of us (Mage, Warlock, Shadow Priest) took on Gahz’rilla the other weekend, and while we should have beaten him as we were higher in level, doing so was fun and an accomplishment. We even had a Mechanical Greench off-tanking for us at one point! Sunken Temple is the plan for this weekend – we’ll see how that goes.

So that’s the State of the (MMO) Nation. I have some more generic blog posts in the wings, including the next Laziest Peon article – so stay tuned.

Laziest Peon #3 – Shiv

Last week I spoke about the Stoneclaw Totem and how one of its advantages was that with its 5-health it avoided a lot of the 1-point damage abilities that often remove a totem. This week I thought I would look at Shiv – a staple of many rogue decks and a fine example of a totem remover.

Description
Lets cover the basics, before we delve into some finer points about the card. Shiv is a 1-cost rogue ability from the Through the Dark Portal set. Its also a combo card – so its already great with other cards like Slice and Dice and Eviscerate. Its also part of a loose cycle of cards which also include Arcane Shot (Hunter), Fire Blast (Mage), Zephyr (Druid) and Rend (Warrior).

Additionally its not an instant. This has caught plenty of players out from my experience. The card just “feels” like it should have instant speed. Having access to instant removal is so powerful – but even without it you can wave goodbye to Apprentice Teep, Leeroy Jenkins and Sha’lin Nightwind – heck even the annoying Warden Tonarin can be removed before it can do anything. On the Horde side, it pings Voss Treebender and Vesh’ral before they hurt your board. And that only covers many allies from the first set.

Sneaking in there are the Devilsaur Leggings. Is Tewa Wildmane getting you down? Shiv. Hear those Thundering Footsteps? Shiv. For the leggings to work the rogue usually has to stab away with a dagger and get his face punched. No longer.

But alas, for this card at least, the rogue must prepare, organise and plan. Which should be its forte anyway, stealthy little buggers that they are. Lets not overlook the fact though, that there is a very good reason why its not instant. The second part of the card reads “that damage counts as combat damage”. Such a small sentence, but just a large ramification. “Combat damage” may not look significant but lets look at the other cards in the rogue’s stable. How much better would Deadly Poison and Crippling Poison be if you could lay them down during your opponents turn – they’d begin to work a turn earlier and would have a significant impact on the pace of the game.

I mean, the card is so nice that UDE gave its power to a Hero – Rotun Daggerhand. For an additional 2-resources you can Shiv at instant speed. From the most recent World Championship, 5 of the top 8 decks were using the stumpy rogue in solo builds, so its obviously a powerful ability. While we haven’t seen a competitive poison deck, they cant be far away.

Phew, that was a lot of discussion for such a small card. So how does it compare to the MMO ability of the same name?

“20 Energy. Instant. Requires a Melee Weapon. Performs an instant off-hand weapon attack that automatically applies the poison from your off-hand weapon to the target. Slower weapons require more Energy. Awards 1 combo point.”

Shiv is an ability rogue’s gained with the Burning Crusade expansion. As a level 70 ability it should be significant, and it is – there are some nasty poisons in the game. First thing to notice is that the game’s ability is instant – so things don’t match up there. But for TCG balance, I think its acceptable. Look at the text though! Its clear that Shiv (in the TCG) was always designed to go with the poison cards. I think its a subtle clue, and one that players of both the MMO and the TCG could have realised without needing the “combat damage” set of dots to connect. Another nice design decision seems to be that since damage dealt in combat is “combat damage”, that those two words can easily replace the requirement for a melee weapon, and serve a second purpose to link to poison at the same time. Its a nice change from cards like Sinister Strike and Backstab that should use a weapon.

Another point of difference is that Shiv itself doesn’t do any damage. It does, however, perform and off-hand weapon attack which in addition to applying poison does damage. So in a way we’re covered. About the only thing you could argue is that the damage an off-hand weapon does at level 70 is going to be more than 1 – but for a 1-cost ability I think its balanced. Anymore damage and the focus move away from the core of the ability – applying poison.

That wraps things up for this final Laziest Peon for the year. I’ll be back in the new year to look at some more commons and uncommons and explore their MMO equivalents. Until then, may you dodge the Hardpacked Snowballs.

Away (… in a manger)

Sorry for the delay, but I’ve been away for Xmas for the past week or so. I had a new Laziest Peon all ready to go before Xmas – but its been delayed while I work out some other (hush hush) details. If I dont get any word within the next week or so I’ll upload it, and supply a 4th installment.

So I hope the Great Father Winter brought you all that you needed to reach your holiday goals, and I’ll talk to you all soon.

Laziest Peon #2 – Stoneclaw Totem

Welcome to the second installment of the Laziest Peon – where I take a card from the WoW TCG and compare it to the WoW MMO.

In honour of my newly created toon – Huchin – I thought we’d take a look at one of the common abilities made available to Shaman from the latest set – Stoneclaw Totem.  Its funny, but its taken four sets for one of the first totems a Shaman gets to make its way into the TCG.

Ok, now for the breakdown. Stoneclaw Totem is an Earth totem – so its fighting with Earthbind Totem and Earth Elemental Totem for a spot. Earthbind is one of the staple Shaman cards, as it offers so much board control for such a little cost. It a lot of ways its the younger brother to Stoneclaw Totem – both come out with a big “TARGET ME NOW” sign painted over their artwork. Earthbind ties any allies down once they become exhausted, as an instant it can really mess with your opponent and force them to scrounge for some ferocity or spot removal to deal that 1 point of damage to allow their board to untap. And that’s the first strength of Stoneclaw Totem – its a pain to remove. For 3 resources, you basically get a 5-health protector. Most ways you cut it, that’s two attackers. The totem distracts aggressive decks, slowing down their race to kill you. 5-health equals Latro and Teep (or Merry and Jeleane). Heck, its even a big swing for a Cat Druid or Warrior. The frailty of the earlier totems became apparent with the 1-health and the prevalance of 1-damage abilities (Shiv, Arcane Shot, etc).

And that’s when the second ability kicks in – if you attack the totem you cannot ready at the next ready step. Ouch. That stops the aforementioned allies for TWO TURNS. That’s a pretty big swing in momentum.

Now, all that stall comes at a price – this totem isn’t instant. Yep, unlike many of the totems to date, you cant plonk this one down during your opponent’s turn. You lay it down and it sends out its shamanistic pulses for all to see – its an obvious threat and forces your opponent to think around it. I like that feel to it.

Lets compare it to the MMO equivalent. Stoneclaw Totem (Rank 1) – “Summons a Stoneclaw Totem with 50 health at the feet of the caster for 15 sec that taunts creatures within 8 yards to attack it.  Enemies attacking the Stoneclaw Totem have a 50% chance to be stunned for 3 sec.” Taunt – check. Decent health so it cannot be one-shotted – check. What I like is that they’ve turned the game-effect “stun” into the TCG effect “doesn’t ready”. 3 seconds seems to be a rough equivalent to a turn as in both the MMO and the TCG this totem gives you just enough time to do something else like run away or stall to get off another spell. And there we can see a subtle aspect of this card – its doesnt remove the threat. Latro is still on the board, he’s just busy attacking a pretty stick for a turn. This card wont remove a threat – it’ll just pospone it until you can hopefully dig for a solution, or work around it. In the TCG, two turns can make all the difference. The only obvious spot that it fails the equivalence test is, as I have already mentioned, that it is not instant. But really, giving the totem instant speed would result in some other penalty – like extra cost. At 3-resources this isn’t cheap, but at 4 or more it wouldn’t be playable.

Toon Update

I’ve created a new toon to work on over the Dec/Jan period – I’m calling it my Xmas Project. Plucker is now 70, and a little goal-less, and Tanarel is a chore to play at the moment, so I created Huchin, a Tauren Shaman. As of yesterday he is level 16. My goal is to be 20 by the end of next weekend, then to try to hit 40 by the end of January. If possible, I’m going to try to get him up to Tanarel’s level so I can keep pace with some friends who are in their late 40s. Its likely not going to be achievable, but we’ll see. I’ll keep you posted.

Note to self: read the quest text, or better yet, never assume you have the right location for a quest drop. Its funny how things drop faster when you’re in the right spot.

Onyxia Raid

On Saturday just gone we had our final WoW TCG Raid of the year, and the end of a 3 month ladder. With all three Raid players winning, we had 3 players tied on highest points. But it was close, so very close.

Let me lay it out for you. We had an all Alliance Raid Group: Timmo Shadestep, Halavar, Kintara Wintermoon, Bildros Nullvoid and Kana Nassis. With an aggressive opening few moves, dropping allies left, right and centre we blasted through Stage 1 easily. Stage 2 was managed quite well, Onyxia could only manage to put 9 Whelps out and we traded those for health and allies. We managed health well, pulling out some nice Power Word: Shield (the best one was from a top-deck to keep the Priest alive one more turn!) and heals when required, and going into Stage 3 we still had all 5 of us all under 50% health. But the writing was on the wall – we just couldnt see it. With some massive draws, Onyxia threw down Draconic Rage (two more to add to one she had in Stage 1), Tooth and Claw, Trample, and dual Dragon Hide. The Priest was without Mass Dispel, so we were struggling. Halavar threw down some massive targets (Hellreaver, Two-Handed Weapon Specialization) and threatened to pound Onyxia. The rest of us put down some protectors and tried to prong the dragon into attacking. But a Burninate and Wrath of Onyxia, along with several Flame Breaths kept the board down. First the Priest went, and Onyxia entered into the final stages of her Raid timer (at 20 resources Onyxia wins). The Rogue was next (I guess all those poisons annoyed the Great Drake), and with 13 damage still to be done in 6 turns we looked in decent shape. But then the aggressive Hunter was eaten and the tide had turned. Bildros wasnt laying anything but breath-fodder, and Halavar had already gotten back 2 Hellreavers twice and was seriously running out of juice. It went down to the wire and in the end, the Alliance ran out of turns.

So close! Stage 3 is just harsh, with the sheer amount of cards that Onyxia can throw down a turn.

The Bildros and Halavar decks we exposed as flawed, and since I built them I’ll try to poke around and provide an analysis and possible improvements. I havent yet made a Raid deck that I was happy with, though I’m starting to come up with things that a deck does and doesnt need. I’ll make a separate post for that analysis.